Cops increase DUI patrols in December

Emphasis to continue through early January

Updated 10:00 pm, Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Seattle Police officer Eric Michl of the department's DUI squad administers a field sobriety test to a suspected drunken driver on Dec. 12. The driver was arrested but has not been charged.

Seattle Police officer Eric Michl of the department's DUI squad administers a field sobriety test to a suspected drunken driver on Dec. 12. The driver was arrested but has not been charged.

Photo: Casey McNerthney/seattlepi.com

Image 2 of 2

Hoberg

Hoberg

Cops increase DUI patrols in December

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

At some point each night, cops on Seattle's DUI squad expect to hear it: The insistence from a drunken driving suspect that he's fine, followed by the complaint that the arrest will screw up his life.

The goal, police say, is to make an arrest before those drivers screw up someone else's life.

December has the highest concentration of drunken drivers on the road, according to Seattle police and Washington State Patrol troopers. Both agencies have increased their DUI patrols and plan to continue at higher levels through early January.

But that goal isn't always reached.

Shortly after 7 p.m. Saturday night, the DUI squad said they found their first drunken driver after it was too late.

A family returned home from vacation to the 1700 block of South Columbian Way and was unpacking luggage in their driveway. A black, late '90s Chevrolet Corvette was going eastbound when police said it fishtailed and slammed into at least two people.

One of them had his leg amputated as a result of the collision, investigators said. An officer reported finding beer in the Corvette.

The driver, 51, is being held on $150,000 bail for investigation of vehicular assault. Police said he had a previous drunken driving charge reduced to reckless driving.

Related Stories

"We're never going to stop it," DUI squad officer Eric Michl acknowledged at the scene Saturday. "But we want to reduce the chances of someone getting victimized by a drunk driver."

Police have made progress. Last year, 11,773 people died in drunk-driving-related crashes nationwide -- a decline of 9.8 percent from 2007, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

But the organization estimates roughly three of every 10 people in the United States will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives.

According to 2006 state Department of Transportation records, December of that year saw more alcohol-related crashes in King County than any other month in the previous two years. The highest number of alcohol-related crashes -- 18 -- happened on Dec. 23, and the 48 tallied statewide was second only to New Year's Day, which saw 50.

DUI squad wins in court

In the Seattle case Saturday, Michl put the suspected drunken driver through several field sobriety tests, making him count backwards from 53 to 36 and recite the alphabet without singing.

A determining factor was evaluating the man's eyes, he said -- tests of eye movement that can not be consciously controlled.

This fall, the state Supreme Court decided it was legal for officers to get a search warrant and force blood draws from people suspected of drunken driving.

The case came after Michl got a warrant for blood from a man who crashed his motorcycle four years ago on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The man refused to submit his blood, and the warrant-obtained test results were suppressed in Seattle Municipal Court.

The ruling was reversed in Superior Court and appealed by the rider who crashed.

"The implied consent statute explicitly allows a police officer to obtain a blood alcohol test pursuant to a warrant, even after a driver refuses a voluntary blood alcohol test," Justice Susan Owens wrote for the majority.

"Neither due process nor equitable estoppel requires police officers to inform DUI suspects of the possibility of obtaining a warrant to collect evidence."

That ruling, Michl said, "was a big win."

A personal connection

Beginning on Thanksgiving, the State Patrol had eight troopers and a sergeant working nights looking for drunken drivers. The squad continues through the first week of January.

The agency also has another six troopers working traffic safety Friday and Saturdays for the rest of the year.

"We see a higher concentration of DUIs with holiday parties," trooper Dan McDonald said. "Also we have a down economy and as depression sets in, people turn to alcohol."

The Seattle squad was increased from six to nine officers this month, though any patrol officer can also cite drivers for DUI.

About three hours after Seattle police investigated the Beacon Hill collision scene Saturday, troopers said a suspected drunken driver slammed into a State Patrol car and caused another collision on southbound Interstate 5.

The Seattle man police say was drunk had a prior DUI conviction and was driving on a suspended license.

Tuesday afternoon, two drivers were rushed to a hospital with life-threatening injuries after a suspected drunken driver crossed the Interstate 90 median and hit a westbound vehicle head-on near Preston, in King County, troopers said.

The wrong-way driver had a prior DUI conviction, according to the State Patrol.

Michl doesn't have a running tally for his DUI arrests this year. He said he doesn't look at his job in terms of numbers but rather as a way to keep people safe -- a way to keep people from suffering as John Hoberg's family and friends have.

His crash happened Sept. 23, 1979, the fall of Hoberg's senior year at Ingraham High School. He was the passenger in a 1968 Camaro going north on 320th Avenue Southeast -- a part of unincorporated King County.

The driver, a classmate, couldn't make a turn.

"I had been drinking prior to driving a car in which my friend was killed when I left the road," the driver wrote in court documents.

At 17, he pleaded guilty to negligent homicide in Juvenile Court.

Michl was at Ingraham with classmates when he heard about the crash that killed his friend.

"A lot of us had never experienced anything like that before and it was upsetting," he said. "John's dad was never the same."

At Hoberg's funeral, his sister spoke about how she'd read stories to him as a kid, Michl said. Hoberg's father -- a Seattle police officer who was Officer Friendly on "The J. P. Patches Show" -- was devastated.

Later, he came to address the Ingraham student body about what happened, and about the dangers of drunken driving.